The present invention relates to anti-freeze winterizing systems and, in particular, to a stand-alone system that can be added to a water supply system and whereby the anti-freeze may be recoverably pumped into and out of the water supply lines.
A problem plaguing all owners of self-contained recreational vehicles and leisure homes is that of having to protect the water supply systems from freezing during the cold weather seasons of the year. While one may protect a water supply system by merely draining the system down so as to remove the water that might otherwise freeze and burst the pipes, in practice, this end is not easily achieved, due to the contorted paths through which most water supply systems meander. Because of these paths, pockets of water tend to become trapped within the hot and cold water lines, and thus while the majority of the system may be drained, segregated pockets may still remain and cause the bursting of the water pipes.
Further solutions towards this problem have been to blow the system down with pressurized air or, alternatively, to add anti-freeze to the entire system or at least portions thereof, after partially draining the system. These solutions, however, require a good deal of time and effort in order to ensure that all the branch lines of the supply system are winterized. Still remaining, though, and in spite of the preparations made is the necessity of having to repeat these operations each and every time one might use his or her recreational vehicle or leisure home during the cold weather months. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a stand-alone system that may be added to an existing hot and/or cold water supply system and whereby the water supply system may be automatically winterized/summerized, while recovering the anti-freeze during each summerizing operation.
Prior attempts at developing automatic winterizing systems can be found upon directing attention to U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,384,123; 3,929,154 and 4,286,617. There, systems are disclosed that admit compressed air or anti-freeze into the water supply lines or utilize the water supply system's pump or a separate pump to pump anti-freeze from a resevoir and fill the hot and cold water lines, exclusive of the holding tank and hot water tank. None of such systems, however, provide for a closed-loop path whereby the anti-freeze may be recovered, with or without filtering after each winterizing operation. The present invention, on the other hand, provides for the recovery of the anti-freeze so that a water supply system may be automatically converted from a winterized to a summerized or a summerized to a winterized condition in a manner of minutes, without the major loss of anit-freeze.
In particular, these ends are achieved with a stand-alone system that in one embodiment includes a separately pumped anti-freeze reservoir and a plurality of flow control valves for controlling the anti-freeze flow. In another system a four-way valve is added to permit similar operation, but without the use of a second pump. A third system, similar to the second, operates much the same. The systems are easily added to any water supply system by appropriately adding a three-way valve at the hot water heater and by coupling the water supply system to a three-way valve at the present winterizing system.
The construction of the present invention, its objects, advantages and distinctions over the prior art will, however, become more apparent upon directing attention to the following description thereof with respect to the following drawings. Before referring thereto, though, it is to be recognized that the present invention is described with respect to its presently preferred embodiment only and that, accordingly, various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.